Written by Merle Hopper – transcribed by Judy McLean
Murray John Hopper was born in Wynyard, Sask. on January 30th 1924. Murray’s parents, Arthur and Helen (Nellie) Hopper, along with his brothers Arthur and Robert, came out to Vancouver BC in 1938 and lived there from September to January of 1939.
The Hoppers then moved to Ruskin and the three boys, Arthur (Art), Murray and Robert (Bo all attended Ruskin School. At that time the majority of students were Japanese.
Murray had a newspaper route and delivered the Harold and Sun papers up to the Ruskin Dam in 1939 and 1940.
Murray in his teens worked in Art and Carl Nelson’s shingle mill along with Walter Smith.
After leaving the Nelson mill, Murray at age 18, joined the Signal Corps in the Canadian Armed Forces. After training in Vancouver, and in several towns in Ontario he was sent overseas and spent three and a half years in total including Canada and overseas.
Murray’s family lived in the house next to the hall, where the Shield’s family now reside. Murray and his brother Bob dug the well for that home by hand.
Murray and Merle began courting on New Year’s Eve 1946, were engaged on January 4th 1947, and were married on February 18th 1947.
Our son Daryl John was a student at Ruskin School in the 1950’s.
Murray and family moved to Toronto so Murray could attend Chiropractic college. Our daughter Judy began her schooling in Toronto Ontario. Daryl complete his schooling in Toronto while Judy completed her schooling in Maple Ridge.
Judy married Dan McLean and have two sons Matthew and Robert who attended Ruskin School in the school’s final years.
Art Hopper’s wife Pearl and Murray Hopper’s wife Merle were Ruskin Brownie pack leaders in the 1950’s. We held our meetings in the basement of Ruskin School.
Many concerts and stage shows were put on in the Ruskin Hall. One show in particular was the Miss Ruskin pageant. The winner of the pageant turned out to be a real horse. Back then we took turns shoveling coal into the furnace.
It has been a pleasure to witness the changes to Ruskin Hall over the years. It holds a lot of good memories for us.